Study of caregivers transitioning from LCP goes to U of Alberta

Study of caregivers transitioning from LCP goes to U of Alberta

Cynthia Palmaria (right) with the facilitator who is a University of New Brunswick professor and a researcher from McGill.

GATES research goes to U of A: From ‘Migrant’ to ‘Citizen’: Learning from the Experiences of Former Filipina Caregivers Transitioning out of the Live-In Caregiver Program (LCP)

One year after the GATES (Gabriela Transitions Experiences Survey) project initiated its data collection, the research core group has presented its preliminary results in several conferences in different parts of Canada.

The series of presentations started with METROPOLIS in Ottawa, Ryerson University in Toronto and the most recent was at University of Alberta in Edmonton.

The 4th Annual Conference for Canadian Studies & the Canadian Ethnic Studies Association was entitled “Transforming Citizenship, Ethnicity, Transnationalism and Belonging in Canada” and the organization hopes to examine Canadian issues related to immigration and diversity. It was held on October 22-24, 2014 and attended by academicians, researchers and some community organizations.

The GATES team was represented by Cynthia Palmaria of GABRIELA-Ontario and Marco Luciano of Migrante-Canada.

Palmaria particularly discussed how this project will illustrate integration and settlement experiences of former caregivers and their families on the issues of education, employment and physical and mental health as well as the associated barriers.

Luciano discussed how the project was implemented across the country through the organizing work of Migrante-Canada. He also emphasized how members and peers have resisted the precariousness of their living and working conditions by involving themselves in community organizations and by being present locally, nationally and internationally through migrant groups such as International Migrant’s Alliance. The audience was eager to see the settlement trends in different provinces and how this would compare to the existing but limited studies conducted on this particular sector of migrants.

This collaborative nationwide project is headed by Gabriela Ontario, Ryerson University, York University, Migrante Canada and the Community Alliance for Social Justice (CASJ).

This study on former live-in caregivers has completed the qualitative component with focus group discussions while the quantitative aspect with 500 survey questionnaires will be wrapping up in December of this year.

This research studied participants from 5 major cities of Canada which includes Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary.

As the team moves on to the subsequent phases of the project, they will continue to abide to the participatory action research principles which will provide further skills development to the women who initiated this. From the findings of this research, the team hopes to come up with policy recommendations as well as services that will fill the gap for better integration of new migrants and their families.